Why Goal Setting is Important For Your Business

You may understand that goal setting is important but you may not realize just HOW critical it is for having a profitable business. Are you afraid of writing down your goals? Does it seem intimidating to you? Does setting goals give you imposter syndrome? Are you scared of failing at the goals you set?

Goal setting boils down to how you manage your time. It is all wrapped around what you prioritize with the time you have each day, week, month, and quarter. One of the things we suggest at Chic is setting time aside each week to write down your goals and your “must do’s”. Throughout the week, track whether or not you did the daily actives that would help you accomplish those goals and move your business forward.

Without a doubt, the significant thing here is not HOW you set goals but that you ACTUALLY set them! Let’s discuss five reasons why goal setting is important for making your business profitable!

Direction

First, it gives you direction and helps you stay focused on what you’re working towards. If you know your long term dream, but you haven’t sat down to think about all the small goals that will get you there- you probably won’t ever make it. On the other hand, when you have a step by step path to help you achieve where you’re going, you’re more likely to actually accomplish it! Goal setting is important because it allows you to know how and where to spend your time because you have daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals set.

Without direction, you could be working way too hard trying to figure out HOW to become successful instead of DOING the things that will make you successful. Goal setting allows you to work smarter, not harder, which ends up saving you time that can be used in areas that bring you more profit.

Accountability

Often times people dislike the word accountability because being held accountable isn’t always fun. However, having accountability forces you to take ownership of your actions and business. Once you write down your goals, they become even more real. A lot of women are going about it alone. Finding an accountability partner to help you stay on track would be very beneficial to your business and personal development. Even if you don’t have an accountability person, simply writing down your goals will subconsciously keep you accountable.

In addition, you should 100% communicate your weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals. If you aren’t communicating these with your team, everyone may be working towards completely different things. Without knowing what you’re going after, your team won’t have clear direction and may become unmotivated. Communication is key- with yourself and with your team! Don’t be afraid of accountability. Allow it to motivate you and excite you for what is to come.

Tracking

Do you have a system for tracking your business? Do you track your business progress on a daily, weekly and monthly basis? If not, you are most likely letting opportunities fall through the cracks and you could be achieving an even higher level of success than you currently are. When you use data to track the progress of your goals, it allows you to alter what you’re doing if something isn’t working. On the other hand, it also allows you to know exactly what’s working so you can continue bringing your business to the next level. Tracking produces adaptability. The data you collect can be used to make informed decisions for your business.

Data reveals your trends. Your trends give you the truth. The truth is what creates the change. Often times, you may think you’re doing the right work but it isn’t producing the results you are wanting. This is where tracking your goals come into play and makes all the difference. Other times, tracking may cause fear. Fear of failure. Fear of feeling inadequate. But taking ownership of your business is taking ownership of the numbers as well. 

Therefore, stop looking at unachieved goals as failures. These are lessons, so use them! What worked well? What did not work well? Where did you go wrong? What can you do differently next time? Start asking yourself those questions! Allow those lessons to grow you and your business!

Motivation

Next, each accomplished goal should motivate you to go after the next, and then the next! Every goal is one step closer to having the business you want and the life you dreamed of. For your goals to motivate you, start celebrating each accomplished goal. Treat yourself to something small when you reach a goal you set for your business. Bring energy to your goals by celebrating them and motivating yourself. Goal setting forces you to take a step back, see how your business is impacting others, and celebrate your progress along the way. Review, Reflect, and Celebrate!!

So what do you do if you aren’t seeing progress? Is your lack of progress actually discouraging you?

First, you should take a look at the goals you have set. Are they realistic and true to you? Are they aligned with what you really want? Sometimes your goals may be for larger numbers, better systems, or more strategies. While those things may help you reach your goals, those aren’t your actual goals. Review the goals you have set and ask yourself why you set that goal. Is the goal what you think you should be shooting for because others say that goal equals success? You have to make sure your goals are aligned with your life, if not- you will become resentful of them. You may become extremely discouraged and it will prohibit your business from succeeding. Which leads us into the next reason goal setting is so important for your business.

Vision

Finally, it allows you to see what you actually are shooting for. You may equate goals to external things- more money, more happy customers, more systems, more sales, more strategy. However, if you look a little deeper, what you’re actually saying is-

“I want more time with my family.”
“I want to be more financial free.”
“I want to take my family on vacation.”
“I want to be at all my kid’s practices.”
“I want to get off work earlier, so we can eat dinner as a family.”

THESE are your actual goals! When you put paper to pen, it allows you to see the internal parts of what you ACTUALLY want. Numbers and strategies are just external factors to get you what you actually want internally.

For example, your narrative should be, “I want to make more sales in my business SO THAT I can take my family on vacation.” The goal is taking your family on vacation, and the way you will do that is by increasing your sales. Your narrative is extremely important because your goals are rooted in your vision. Your vision is your motivator and driving force, so sit down and reflect on what you actually want internally. From an external view, there will always be another external goal to reach or something else to achieve. Take a step back and define your goals by how you want to feel. If you start to think about how you want to feel, it helps you enjoy the journey. Vision is key here!

For more on this topic, check out these resources!

Be sure to listen to this week’s Make Chic Happen podcast episode: 5 Reasons Why Your Goals Are Essential To Your Business with Melanie Mitro and Angela Henderson.

For more on success and growing your business, read our blog post: Three Keys to Success In Your Business!

Want help with creating and tracking your goals?

BIG NEWS! We are making updates to the Chic Influencer Planner. We can’t wait to show you all the changes we’ve made and all the new features. In the meantime, we thought it would be super helpful to offer a free downloadable guide called the “Recipe for Great Content”. Download your FREE guide and we will show you what to post about through the week and what to include in every post so that you can increase engagement and convert more followers to customers!

Here is a little sneak peek of the “Recipe for Great Content”. We like to call it the “Thumbprint Method”! You don’t want to miss this, so be sure to download your guide which will be emailed straight to your inbox.